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Edghill admits un-operationalized accounting modules have critical functions
– But insists Ministry lacks capacity to use them
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill is saying that even though his ministry failed to operationalize two of the seven important features of the Integrated Financial Management and Accountability System (IFMAS), they are still able to obtain “comprehensive” financial reports.
IFMAS was implemented in January 2004 under former President Bharrat Jagdeo. It is responsible for recording all
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill
financial data generated by the Government. These include the issuing of cheques, the recording of warrants; contingency fund advances and the generation of the annual financial statements. The five IFMAS modules which are currently in place are; Controls, Appropriations, General Ledger, Expenditure, and Revenue and Treasury Management.
The two which are not in place are the Purchasing and Inventory/Assets Modules. Edghill via a notification, highlighted the critical functions of the very two modules his Ministry failed to utilize, although it paid approximately US$ 660,000 for the “specially tailored system.”
The Purchasing Module he explained seeks to provide the ability to create purchase requisitions and purchase order with self-creating commitments to reserve the necessary funds (fully integrated with the Appropriations Module currently installed).
It also provides the ability to record the receipts and return of goods and automatically updates the purchase order to reflect the transactions. This module also completes integration with the payment process to reflect payment for goods ordered and received and provides the ability to create an asset record when goods are received.
As for the Inventory/Assets Module, The Member of Parliament said that it seeks to do the following; provide the ability to create inventory and asset entries when entering a new record based on the requisitions, provide the ability to have automatic stock ordering when the system hits a user-defined reorder point and provide the ability for tracking issues and receipts.
It also allows for the entering of receipts for deliveries to stores via the Purchasing module and to make adjustments to reflect inventory average and shortages. And lastly this module provides queries and reports on current inventory, stock activity and receiving reports.
Based on the crucial functions highlighted by the Minister, he still insists that in the absence of the two modules, its financial systems are operating effectively.
However, the Auditor General’s report is fraught with reports of goods that go ‘missing’, budgetary excesses by numerous Government agencies, and the constant cry of procurement inconsistencies across the board in every single facet of Government.
Financial analysts have opined that in the absence of the two modules, it opened up the floodgates for mismanagement and lack of proper accountability with regard to assets and consumables acquired by the government.
Former Auditor General and anti-corruption advocate, Anand Goolsarran told this publication that IFMAS was expected to ensure that there would be a more accountable mechanism for recordkeeping as it relates to government’s procurement.
Goolsarran said that in the absence of the modules, there are several implications. He stated that in the absence of the modules, Guyana has a less than desirable accountability framework and as such, billions of dollars in assets and consumables can go untracked.
“Those two modules are very important as they allow for the tracking of the physical assets. In their absence, it means that monies can be spent to acquire, for example, equipment or vehicles, and there would be no effective measures in place to trace them and to ensure that they are properly accounted for. In addition, when you expend funds to maintain those very assets, you would need a system in place to ensure that value for money is achieved and that money is not wasted.”
The anti-corruption advocate emphasized the urgent need for the two modules to be in place and operationalized to ensure proper accountability for all State assets.
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